Thread: Amt of crews & properties before you got out of the field the majority of the time

Amt of crews & properties before you got out of the field the majority of the time

As the title states.... for those that have done this within their business. Whether you do installs and/or maintenance.
In regards to properties, commercial or residential, sizes, amt of man hrs on an avg week, etc. I just had this pop into my mind and thought it'd be interesting to see what this topic brings as I'd like to get myself out of the field as soon as possible.Posted via Mobile Device

This year we have 5 crews and it will be the first year the boss, my father, is truly out of the field. He still likes to get dirty but we aren't going to let him this year. Our crews consist of: 2 Lawn Maintenance crews, 2 Landscape Install crews, and 1 other maintenance crew that does things at our biggest clients area 5 days a week. So we have 12 guys plus the boss. Each crew works 40 hours a week from March through December usually. The additional maintenance crew (2 guys) will work all winter, but only Mon Wed Fri for about 25 hours per week per man. Hope this helps. Any questions feel free to ask!

Where are you located? When I'm on my phone it doesn't show. But that's the only issue I've come up with for why I wouldn't want to get totally out of the field, I like doing the work, when I am out of the field, maybe ill just mow my own house's/shop's lawn and do the fert over the lunch hour haha. At what point did the owner begin to step out of the field? How many crews?Posted via Mobile Device

Where are you located? When I'm on my phone it doesn't show. But that's the only issue I've come up with for why I wouldn't want to get totally out of the field, I like doing the work, when I am out of the field, maybe ill just mow my own house's/shop's lawn and do the fert over the lunch hour haha. At what point did the owner begin to step out of the field? How many crews?Posted via Mobile Device

When does your budget tell you that your business profit is sufficient to cover your desired salary? isnt that what this question boils down to?Posted via Mobile Device

First I got the lawn crew to a point where they could manage without me and i could trust they would do the job right.

Then I did landscape jobs with helpers and turned one of the helpers in to a foreman. When he was able to do jobs on his own then I would send him out with a helper.

At this time I started to spend about half the week out of the field doing estimates and administrative work. When I wasnt busy with that stuff I would go help on the landscaping jobs to reduce labor and help support my salary.

At some point I was able to add a second landscape crew and at that time I was able to be out of the field full time.

I now have 2 lawn crews and 2 landscape crews. It took me about 4-5 yrs to get totally out of the field.

Im sure some people can do it alot quicker, or if you have the funds and skills could probably start a business like this without ever being in the field.

First I got the lawn crew to a point where they could manage without me and i could trust they would do the job right.

Then I did landscape jobs with helpers and turned one of the helpers in to a foreman. When he was able to do jobs on his own then I would send him out with a helper.

At this time I started to spend about half the week out of the field doing estimates and administrative work. When I wasnt busy with that stuff I would go help on the landscaping jobs to reduce labor and help support my salary.

At some point I was able to add a second landscape crew and at that time I was able to be out of the field full time.

I now have 2 lawn crews and 2 landscape crews. It took me about 4-5 yrs to get totally out of the field.

Im sure some people can do it alot quicker, or if you have the funds and skills could probably start a business like this without ever being in the field.

That's actually how I've thought out my plans, build one or 2 maintenance crews, train emoloyees to run them and then a design & install crew that I'd work with and slowly work my way out of the field and grow from there.Posted via Mobile Device

I'm located in Pittsburgh, PA. Last year we had 4 crews and that's when he started stepping out of the field. It's a process, you can't just remove yourself immediately. He's constantly doing productive things for the business as well. You have to make sure you always have business related tasks every day. That way your still bringing money in even though you aren't physically working.

I was out of the field for two years before I lost my largest single location contract and a smaller multi-location contract. Lost 100 grand a year on the same day. When that one tanked I cut my two maintenance crews down to one and went back into the field. Went from 7-8 employees down to me and 2. Been that way for two years now. Haven't tried to build it up again until this year. We will see how it goes.